Tooth-brush guard.



No. 851,550. PATENTED APR. 23, 1907.

' J. c. NEVIUS.

TOOTH BRUSH GUARD.

' APPLICATION FILED AUG. 31,1906.

. INVENTOH W? m symbols, whereby UNITED STATES STANDARD OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed August 31,

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN O. NEVIUS, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSET,

ASSIGN OR OF ON E-IIALF TO TOOTH-BRUSH GUARD I Patented April 23, 1907.1906. serial No. 332,790.

To all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, JOHN C. Nnvms, .of Trenton, in the county of Mercerand State of N ew. Jersey,'have invented certain new I and usefulImprovements in Tooth-Brush Guards; and I hereby declare that the fol- Ilowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

g This invention is a novel device especially designed for use inconnectionwith tooth brushes, nail brushes, and like toilet articles, toprevent the water, dripping from the brushes when in use, soiling thehands, cuffs, sleeves, etc. of the user; and also to serve as a supportfor the bristle-portion of the brush when the brush is laid down, sothat the bristle-portionwill be aired, and the brush can be more readilypicked up; and also to serve as ameans for supporting the brush wheninserted in a rest w thout crushing the bristles,and to also serve as ameans for identifying individual brushes, for which latter purpose thedevices are provided with initials or distinctive symbols so that eachbrush can be readily distinguished from others by its owner.

Theinvention consists in a small tubular rubber shield, preferablybell-shaped, and having its bore provided with an annular recess orpocket whereby the outer wall portions are thinned so that while theshieldcan be readily slipped on the handle of a brush or other device oflarger diameter than the bore, it will not be materially distortedexternally, as the thin walls at the ends of the bore can yield readilywithout causing any material deflection of the main body of the shield,-and at the same time the shield will have two bearing points orconstricting portions whereby it will be securely held in place upon thehandle.

The shields may be made of distinctive colors, and further provided withinitials, or

individual owners can readily distinguish their own articles to whichthe shields are applied.

' The invention will be clearly understood from the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Fi ure 1 is a perspective view of a shield attac ledto a tooth brush, and indicating its usefulness. Fig. 2 is an enlargedlongitudi- 'the end walls d of the nal section through the shield asattached to a brush-handle. Fig. 3 is a transverse sec- 5 tion on line3E3, Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

The shield A is preferably conical or hellshaped, being larger at oneend than at the other, and flared outwardly from the small to the largerend; the lar er end being concaved, as at a. The shield has as axialopen ing or bore 6, which is slightly less in diameter than the diameterof the handles it is intended to engage, so that it will clamp thelatter when forced thereon. Intermediate the ends of the bore the shieldis formed with an annular recess or pocket 0 which leaves bore quitethin, compared with the length of the shield, and thus 7 gives theshield two bearings at d, d, upon the brush handle H.

The shields are preferably made of Pararubber, and of any desired color.And for purposes of identification they are preferably ormed withdistinctive symbols, such as initial letters on their outer faces, asindicated at e, in the drawings. When applied to a brush, the shield isslipped endwise on the brush handle, with the larger or concaved end atoward the bristle end of brush; the thin walls d will yield so that theshield can slip over irregularities in the surface of the handle, orpast enlargements in diameter of the handle, to the desired position,where it will be firmly held by reason of the natural constriction ofthe arts 11.

In passing over arger or swell portions of the handle the parts canyield readily, be-

cause they are substantially independent, by

reason of the intermediate pocket or recess 0 which allows the parts (1a certain amount of inde endent expansion and flexion without pro ucinany appreciable or undesirable dis tortion of the body of the shield,which would be distorted if the bore 1) was of uniform diameterthroughout. This pocket or recess 0 therefore is a very useful andimportant fea* ture of the shield.

When the shield is in place, on a tooth- 1 brush for example, asindicated in Fi 1, it will prevent water running down the andle H ontothe hands of the user, and soiling the linen of the user,the water beingcaught by the shield and discharged as indicated in I Flg. 1.

Obviously the shields can be applied to paint-brushes, pen-holders andvarious g other implements and tools, and I do not therefore Wish to berestricted to its use= bore having an internal annular pocket or recess,substantially as described.

merely for brushes, as shields thus constructed are applicable to anduseful on many other articles.

Having described my invention What I 2 claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. A shield for brushes, provided with a I 2. A rubber shield .forbrushes, having one end concave, and provided with a central bore havingan'internal annular pocket E .or recess, substantially as described.

a and provided with a bore of comparatively ber body having one endconcaved, and provided with a bore having an internal concealed annularpocket or recess, leaving the end \vallsof the bore flexible andself-adjust ing whereby material distortion of the body of the guard isprevented When the guard is i applied to a handle, substantially asandrfor.

the purpose described.

5. The herein described shield for brushes, comprising a conical orbell-shaped soft rubber body, having its larger end concaved,

small diameter atit-s ends, and with an internal annular pocket orrecess, leaving the end Walls of the bore flexible whereby materialdistort-ion of the body of the guard is prevented and for the purposedescribed.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I afiix my signaturein presence of two Witnesses.

. JOHN C. NEVIUS.

.In presence of- I CHARLES H. ENGLISH,

JAMES D. BRADY.

1 when applied to a handle, substantially as

